ATLANTION - LAYLA BOOK1

Part 51 Layla

Layla looked around and noticed that everyone had gone silent. The air was still, and she felt as if glowing red eyes were watching her from all directions. She tried to ignore the fear rising inside of her as she looked up at the Duke's face. He had black veins and was surrounded by dark smoke and fire. Layla didn't dream of the carbon eyes on the Duke's face. Fear stepped in front of her and clapped his hands.

"Hey, did our plans change? Aren't we a bit late?" Fear asked.

"Yes," barked the Duke. "You ride with her, or I might drop her in the process."

Layla and Fear walked along an alley aligned with a colossal statue. This time, Terror was waiting at the last gate and closed it behind them. He was talking with a fire fairy and drinking from a green bottle with questionable content.

Three creatures waited for them at the edge of the floating island. The first was an enormous black dragon with pulsating veins and tent-like wings that could cover a house. The second was a firebird, which Torture called a phoenix. The third creature was a ghost-winged snake with two heads and shadowy transparent wings. Fear explained that it would be their ride.

Layla admired the view from above. She saw ruined castles, merry villages, and many beasts and human-like creatures living on the hundreds of thousands of tiny floating islands. They were all lit up with multicolor lights, and entire cities buzzed on them. Some of the islands were swollen by fog with a yellowish tint because of the fire lights and lava veins that covered the rocky bottoms of the islands.

"Isn't that phoenix bird burning, or is it just a mirage? How can Torture ride on it without burning?" Layla asked.

"Because he is a fire element himself. He is one of the last offspring of the ancient barbaric royal houses," Fear replied.

"So you and he are..."

"No, we are brothers just in name, not by blood. Me, Terror, and Torture are the last protectors of Hadal Citadel."

"What is Hadal Citadel, and why is it so important to the Dark Duke?" Layla asked.

"Hadal Citadel was the house of all Empire renegades. Everyone that the Empire disapproved of found a home there. It was the last bastion not under Nimiane's power. It was where very few of the red hair barbaric royal house remains could live under the sirens of the sea. It is in the ocean's deepest spot, where few had the courage to venture, even deeper than the Atlantion," Fear explained.

"But what does the Duke have to do with all this?" Layla asked.

"It was his mother's house. You see, his mother was an abyssal siren, so he spent his childhood there, and he even met his first love there too," Fear said.

"What happened to the Hadal Citadel? How did it fall under Nimiane's power?" Layla asked.

The Duke appeared out of nowhere, and Layla felt as if all the air had left her lungs, and her ribs crumbled into dust. Fear held her so tightly that she went blue, not only her hair. The Duke didn't let her go until she felt dizzy, but she didn't dare to scream or whimper.

"It was pitch black when they arrived. Darkness had already swallowed everything, but their arrival extinguished the last flicker of hope. The shadows seemed to envelop us, and people were dying without even realizing they were under attack. A single shadow assassin was a catastrophe, but an army of them was sheer doom. The once green moss alley turned red, saturated with blood and gore, and panic spread like wildfire. Then, the protection magic was shattered, and massive waves crashed into the houses, dragging many into the depths. The key to this devastation was the red witch, who betrayed us all to the Blue Bloods."

"The red witch?"

"Yes, your mother, Dio, she was the one who betrayed us."

"What do you mean, betray?"

"When Nimiane gave birth to a baby girl with red hair, she was horrified. The sordid red blood of the barbaric ancient houses surfaced in the end, and she was afraid it could be stronger than the blue one and cause trouble. She went mad and falsely accused her husband and his family of treason, claiming they were plotting against the city. She killed them to cleanse the genetic pool. She would have abandoned the child as well, but she was born without the power to sustain the tree of life, the symbol of royal house's great power. The nobles feared that the old queen would not have another child, and without a successor, the city would crumble. This child was your mother, Dio, and she was secretly saved by a nobleman and sent to Hadal Citadel."

"What happened to her then?"

"Dio grew up in Hadal Citadel, but her mother never acknowledged her and secretly hated her hair color. When she was old enough, there were disputes at the palace, and Nimane refused to give her powers to her nephew Kai. She thought all evil came from Hadal and, to win Dio's loyalty, sent secret messengers, married her to the assassins' guild master, and sold her practice for the alliance. They conquered Hadal Citadel, the last standing bastion in the area, and betrayed us all."

"So Dio was your friend?"

"No, we didn't contact each other much. But, Terror knew her well; she bewitched him, and they were inseparable in childhood."

As for the fall of Hadal Citadel, Fear's face contorted with pain, and he spoke of the memories that made deep lines appear around his mouth.